The Bengals announced (via Twitter) that they have signed linebacker Nico Johnson off of the Chiefs practice squad. Johnson will join the Bengals’ 53-man roster, filling the final vacancy.
Johnson, a 2013 fourth-round pick out of Alabama, didn’t make the Chiefs’ final cut down to 53 in late August. He hooked on with KC’s practice squad soon after but as he told Terez A. Paylor of The Kansas City Star, he was surprised that he didn’t land on someone else’s active roster.
“I hate it happened, me being cut,” Johnson said. “But everything happens for a reason. I’ve had to take my game to another level on the practice squad, and coach says I’m getting better every day, so that’s all I can do, just get better at my craft and work on technique and those things.”
Johnson attributed part of his improvement this season to a weight cut which saw him trim down to around 245 pounds. In his four years at Alabama, Johnson totaled 163 tackles with 16.5 tackles for a loss.